Page 27


NUT conference 2012


Continued from page 26


 






Trust teachers


NUT President Marilyn Harrop received a standing ovation for her humorous and heartfelt inaugural address to Conference. She described her transition from miner’s daughter to where she stood today.


She thanked all who had given her support, encouragement and inspiration and said she was appreciative of the fine example set by women NUT members.


Marilyn stands by the pledges she made when standing for election: working to defend jobs, pay and pensions, promote high quality education for all, protect teacher professionalism, and represent all members.


“Teachers deserve a properly valued and rewarding profession that plays a critical part in ensuring high standards for students,” she said.


“As a profession, we have the trust of parents, but not the trust of the Government those parents elected.”


 


Five is too young to fail


Delegates voted overwhelmingly against the introduction of the year 1 phonics testing this June.


John Holmes, NUT Executive, said the test will not be educationally useful, and “pilots show it will label two-thirds of children as failures at five or six”.


Jennie Harper, Croydon, said “the message being sent to parents is that the teaching of phonics is a magic reading medicine” but all children are different and there’s no one-size-fits-all way of teaching anything.


Conference voted to take the matter up with the Government, support members facing increased workload because of the test, inform parents of the NUT’s concerns, boycott the test should the results be used in league tables and promote its Reading for Pleasure campaign (www.teachers.org.uk/reading).


See page 4 for more on phonics. 


 


 


End LGBT bullying


A motion moved by Debs Gwynn, St Helens, on LGBT equality, instructed the Executive to prioritise the issue of homophobic bullying and campaign for homophobic and transphobic incidents in schools to be recorded and figures published.


It also called for a national training programme for teachers and a model anti-bullying policy.






Vision for education


“We need an overall vision of what we are fighting for, which can inform our campaign and policy work,” said Jon Duveen from Cambridgeshire. It was agreed to look at the NUT’s ‘Vision for education’ statement to ensure it addresses the many challenges faced by teachers.






Trade union rights


Ian Murch, Executive, warned delegates that the Conservatives were planning a new trade union reform campaign. Conference condemned Government attacks on employment protection, in particular extending the unfair dismissal qualifying period to two years and requiring claimants to pay tribunal fees.


Delegates voted for the Executive to work with other TUC-affiliated unions to oppose plans to tighten anti-union legislation.






Youth unemployment


Moving a motion on youth unemployment, Deirdre Murphy, Bedford, reminded delegates of the grim reality of the jobs market for young people.


Martin Allen, Ealing, called for a campaign to re-introduce the EMA. Conference also called on the Government to address youth unemployment, including introducing proper paid apprenticeships.


 


 


Continued on page 28

Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52